Chhattisgarh is the 26th State of India, carved out of Madhya Pradesh in 2000. Population wise Chhattisgarh stands at 16th position and is the 10th largest state thus, it is bigger than Assam or Tamil Nadu. It consists of 33% of Adivasi and 11% Dalit communities of the total population of 2.6 Crores. Making the state as one of the tribal majority states. The overall sex ratio of the state is 991, which is higher than the India average of 943. Chhattisgarh is one of the richest states in mineral resources. Total 12% of India's forests are in Chhattisgarh. Under this background of richness ironically the state has 48% of its population living under the below poverty line (Source: C. Rangarajan Committee). The Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) for the state is 269, higher than the national average of 212. Total 7% women (age group of 15-49 yrs.) are anaemic in Chhattisgarh compared to 22% men in the same age group. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) is 51, again higher than the national average of 47. The child sex ratio is declining as compared to the previous decade. It has come down to 964 in 2011 as against 975 in 2001. Though women have largely remained free of purdah (veil) and mobility restriction in the state, now there are instances of increasing domestic violence, sex-selective abortions etc.
Oxfam India supports local Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the networks working on health, education, natural resource management, economic justice, and on gender justice issues in 16 Districts with a team of nine professional staff based out of Raipur.
Gender Justice
Under the gender justice theme, Oxfam India supports two organizations Nivedita Foundation Trust and Lok Astha Sewa Samiti (LASS). These two organisations are very closely working on addressing violence against women and girls. With LASS our core objective is to strengthen the understanding of positive gender norms of community members (women, men, adolescents, and youth) in 20 villages spread across 6 panchayats of Gariyaband district. LASS is also working towards expanding its engagement with government functionaries and addressing some of the core needs of women and girls survivors of violence. They have organised sports events such as Kabbadi for the girls and Ghada (water pot) race for the boys. In future, they want to host a district level sports event for girls and women only.
Economic Justice
Through Oxfam’s efforts, a chaupal (town hall meeting) was organised to discuss community forest rights of 38 Gram Sabhas over 20,000 hectares of land in the Surguja district. Total 1800 Pahadi Korwa household benefitted in getting forest rights with accurate mapping and titling. The community has initiated conservation, protection and livelihood development plan in eight villages. Teerang village has developed integrated forest and water conservation works with community participation due to our intervention.
Our partner KHOJ has supported communities in ten villages to protect the forest, Kamhepur village alone has claimed, and managing community forest rights over 2350 Hectare of the forest. In Rajnandgaon the community is protecting their forest and even registered an FIR against the forest department when they cut trees without seeking permission of the villagers.
Education
Both of our education partners Samarth and Gram Mitra are addressing inequalities in education and work with different stakeholders including community, panchayat raj institutions, institutions of governance and other concerned individuals and groups to reduce inequality. They facilitate education as a right especially to the marginalized sections of the society – Adivasi, Dalits etc. Through this project, multi-dimensional efforts will be made to improve their educational status.
Institutions
Oxfam India plays an important role by working with various government departments such as police, education, women and children, railway, state tribal department, the state women commission and educational institutions such as Ravi Shankar University, Indian Institute of Management, and various other colleges. In all these years, Oxfam India has become a known name in the project villages as well as in the policy circles.